Update: The jury has found James Scharfschwerdt guilty of three counts of lewd and lascivious sexual battery. He will be sentenced in February. Check back for more details.

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Scharfschwerdt preyed on son’s friends, victims said in molestation trial

A local teenager told a St. Johns County jury Monday how James Scharfschwerdt used promises of booze and a spot in a fishing tournament to lure him to his house and molest him.

In the first day of what is expected to be a two-day trial, the state brought forth the man, now 19, whose complaint led St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office detectives to arrest Scharfschwerdt in December 2010.

Now a senior in high school, the man said Scharfschwerdt won his trust as a 14-year-old without a father in his life and took full advantage of it.

“He seemed like a nice guy,” the accuser said. “I was worried he wasn’t going to like me.”

Scharfschwerdt, 55, a local businessman, avid fisherman and former law enforcement officer in South Florida, is facing three counts of lewd and lascivious sexual battery on a person 12 or older but less than 16.

Under the direction of assistant state attorney Jennifer Dunton, the main accuser (his name is being withheld because he was a minor at the time of the alleged incidents) said he met Scharfschwerdt when he was in middle school. He became friends with Matthew, the son of Scharfschwerdt who went to the same school.

He testified that he had dinner once with the family and became friends with Scharfschwerdt, too. He said Scharfschwerdt talked to him frankly about sex and showed him pornography on a computer he kept in his pickup truck.

The witness said Scharfschwerdt later encouraged him to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night, saying they were going to play cards and drink with buddies.

According to testimony, Scharfschwerdt instead took him to his empty house, gave him liquor and performed sex acts on him.

Approximately two weeks later, the teen said, he was invited to participate in a fishing tournament in Jacksonville. He was asked to spend the night at the house before the tournament.

That night, Scharfschwerdt convinced the teen to skinny dip with him in the pool at his house, the teen said.

Later that night, the man said Scharfschwerdt got him off the couch when everyone else in the house was asleep and led him to a tree house in the backyard and molested him again.

“He says: ‘Don’t say anything about this,’” the accuser said Scharfschwerdt told him after the encounter.

Although he did attend the fishing tournament with Scharfschwerdt, the accuser said he rebuffed further contact.

‘Fear, embarrassment’

However, it was not until about three years later that law enforcement was notified about the accusations — after he had finally told the story to his mother.

Why didn’t he tell his mother before, he was asked.

“Fear, embarrassment; I didn’t want to tell anybody at all,” the accuser said.

That testimony and the cross examination by defense attorney Jill Barger took up most of the morning session Monday.

Scharfschwerdt, dressed in a pin-striped suit with a dark red tie, followed the action with a calm detachment, taking notes throughout the testimony.

Barger challenged the young man’s memory of the details of his encounters with Scharfschwerdt. There is no question that they knew each other and that the boy was a visitor to the house.

The witness admitted that he has struggled with the chronology of events with Scharfschwerdt, saying that he remembers different things with each telling of the alleged sexual encounters.

Barger asked him what main detail hasn’t changed in all the times he’s told his story.

“I was sexually molested by James Scharfschwerdt,” he responded.

Because the state was successful in obtaining the right to use Williams Rule testimony in the trial, it presented three other men who claimed to be victims of molestation by Scharfschwerdt. The rule applies to child molestation cases and allows the prosecution the right to present “other crimes, wrongs or acts” to aid its own case.

A Williams Rule hearing was completed last month in front of Circuit Court Judge Terry LaRue, who is now hearing the jury case.

After presenting a total of six witnesses, the state rested its case before court was adjourned for the day. A jury of six women and two men — all white — are expected to hear the conclusion of the case today.

Barger deferred her opening statement and will present Scharfschwerdt’s case today. She told the court that Scharfschwerdt has not decided whether he will take the stand in his own defense.

Son takes stand

After the main witness, the state called Scharfschwerdt’s son Matthew to the stand.

Now 19, the tall, slender man refused to look at Scharfschwerdt except for the instance in which he was asked to identify the defendant. And like he did at the Williams Rule hearing, Matthew referred to his father as Jim. The son has changed his last name to his mother’s maiden name.

He said he never knew about any sexual activity with his father and any boys. He did testify that his father swam naked with the main accuser.

Matthew also said the accuser and other boys had spent the night at the family house in St. Augustine. He testified that he saw his father furnish young teens with alcohol.

Scharfschwerdt, who seemed emotional about seeing his son at the Williams Rule hearing, remained composed Monday, although he clearly turned and followed his son as he walked out of the court room following his turn at the witness stand.

After Matthew, three other men who claimed to have been victims of Scharfschwerdt took the stand for the state. The last man, who appeared despite strong objection from the defense, is a 37-year-old from Vero Beach.

Fighting back tears as he did while testifying last month, he claimed Scharfschwerdt molested him as a 12-year-old. Like all the other alleged victims, he said Scharfschwerdt gave him alcohol and then performed sex acts on him.

The encounters were alleged to have taken place when Scharfschwerdt was working in law enforcement in the Vero Beach area. However, Judge LaRue made it clear he did not want the jury to hear that detail.

“It sort of has a shock value to it,” he said.

Asks forgiveness

The final witness was Detective Lyman Hall of the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.

He talked about the investigation that was triggered by the main accuser’s complaint in 2010. He added that others came forward with molestation accusations following news of Scharfschwerdt’s arrest.

His testimony included reading from a letter that the state claims was written by Scharfschwerdt to his wife while he was in jail. It included statements about the hurt he’d suffered from his son’s rejection of him after the arrest. It also talked about his family’s need for counseling because of what they had been through.

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Scharfschwerdt is a good-ole-boy competitive angler and former law enforcement officer with a history of molestation charges that goes all the way back to the 1980s (see story link below). It's as though he practiced hide-in-plain-sight character protection by association with "wholesome" buddies who might be reluctant to blow the whistle on him.http://www.tcoasttalk.com/2010/12/24/recently-arrested-former-vero-beach...